The Black Sea flood may evaporate completely

In the late 1990s, two marine geologists, William Ryan and Walter Pitman, claimed
to have found evidence that there was a catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea area
about 7,600 years ago.1 Their idea
became well known when they alleged that their Black Sea flood was the source of
ancient flood legends and in particular, the account of Noah’s Flood as recorded
in the Bible.2 Indeed, this speculative
claim has proved remarkably popular in television documentaries, books, journals
and lectures,3–8 which is
probably why they made the claim.

Earlier examinations of the claims of Ryan and Pitman concluded that, even if there
was a catastrophic flooding of the Black Sea, it was definitely not the Flood of
Noah.9–11 If the Black Sea
flood did occur, it would not have been 7,600 years ago but more likely around 1650
BC. We based our analysis on the account of Noah’s Flood in the Bible, including
the chronological information recorded there, and creationist models of the post-Flood
Ice Age. From the limited geological evidence Ryan and Pitman presented, we felt
that they had made a good case for a sudden drowning of the Black Sea and we had
no reason at the time to challenge that conclusion.

Now, an international research team have reported additional geological findings
from the region and conclude that there never was a catastrophic flooding of the
Black Sea as Ryan and Pitman proposed. 12,13 It seems that the whole idea of
a Black Sea flood may evaporate completely.

The Black Sea Flood hypothesis

According to Ryan and Pitman’s hypothesis, the Black Sea was originally a
freshwater lake, some 110 m lower than today and isolated from the Mediterranean
Sea by a land ridge across Bosporus Strait (Figure 1). Supposedly, about 7,600 years
ago, rising water levels in the Mediterranean Sea breached this land barrier and
flowed catastrophically into the Black Sea, rapidly raising it to its present level.
The force of the watery cascade is alleged to have swept away the soil and debris
and excavated the channel now called Bosporus Strait. Forty cubic kilometres of
Mediterranean water is envisaged to have poured through the channel and into the
Black Sea every day (two hundred times what flows over Niagara Falls), raising the
level of the Black Sea and inundating kilometres of shoreline. By linking this event
and the subsequent displacement of human settlement to Noah’s Flood in the
Bible, Ryan and Pitman caught the popular imagination. In their view, the biblical
record of the Flood is an embellished, distorted account of their Black Sea flood.

Because of these claims, ocean explorer, Robert Ballard probed the southern coastal
waters of the Black Sea in 1999 and the following year looking for signs of human
settlement. He created a sensation when, in September 2000, he announced finding
carved wooden beams and other evidence of displaced human settlement deep under
water off the southern shoreline.14–17
However, radiocarbon dates (based on carbon-14 analysis) gave ages of only about
200 years—a major set back for his claim that these artefacts represented relics
of the biblical Flood.18

Mountain High Maps®Figure 1. Ryan and Pitman proposed that a land bridge across the
Bosporus isolated the Mediterranean from the Black Sea, which contained fresh water
at a level at least 110 m lower. Catastrophic breaching of the hypothetical land
bridge allowed salt water from the Mediterranean to pour into the Black Sea. However,
new geological investigations in the Marmara Sea, especially the exit delta (C),
show that water has always flowed south from the Black Sea and not north as required
by Ryan and Pitman’s hypothesis.
Click
here for larger view

Not Noah’s Flood

Biblical creationists have maintained that, even if there was a dramatic bursting
of the Bosporus followed by a filling of the Black Sea as proposed by Ryan and Pitman,
their speculative link with Noah’s Flood fails to match any biblical detail.9
For example, Ryan and Pitman’s flood was not global as the Bible describes,
but only local. Their flood did not cover the highest mountains but only rose some
110 m. The source of their floodwaters from a breached dam does not agree with the
Bible, which describes fountains of the great deep bursting forth and 40 days of
rainfall. Their flood did not drown all land-dwelling life on the planet hence there
was no need for the ocean-liner-sized ark. In fact, it is hard to imagine how their
Black Sea flood would have threatened any life, even in the local area. The rate
of increase of the water level would have been so slow that animals, birds and people
could have easily moved out of its way. Then, their floodwaters have not receded
but have remained at the level to which they rose.

Ryan and Pitman justify these contradictions by rejecting the constraints of the
biblical record—by asserting that the biblical record is unreliable. CMI rejects
such a cavalier attitude toward the Word of God and does not accept their linking
their alleged flood with Noah’s Flood. If a catastrophic filling occurred,
it would have been a local catastrophe occurring after the Flood which took place
about 4,300 years ago.

New findings challenge hypothesis

From extensive seismic surveys, drill cores, radiocarbon dating and fossil studies
they conclude that there is no support whatsoever for a catastrophic northward flow
of saline Mediterranean water into the Black Sea.

In an interesting development, an international team of Earth scientists from Canada,
USA, UK and Turkey has rejected entirely the idea of a sudden Black Sea flood.12,13
They base their conclusions on investigations of the ‘Marmara Sea Gateway’,
which connects the Black Sea and the eastern Mediterranean (Figure 1). From extensive
seismic surveys, drill cores, radiocarbon dating and fossil studies they conclude
that there is no support whatsoever for a catastrophic northward flow of saline
Mediterranean water into the Black Sea. Rather, from the earliest times the connection
was dominated by a southward flow of water from the Black Sea into the Mediterranean,
exactly the opposite flow direction to that required by Ryan and Pitman’s
hypothesis.

One strong physical evidence they quote for early and strong Black Sea outflow is
a delta at the southern exit of the Bosporus (Figure 1), which, using the radiocarbon
method, they date at 9 to 10,000 years ago. Thus, they conclude that the Black Sea
flowed southward for thousands of years before the two seas were allegedly reconnected
as proposed by Ryan and Pitman. Furthermore, the team found no evidence in the mud
drape on the bottom of the Sea of Marmara, of erosion by northward flowing water.

In their paper, the team reinterpreted the geologic evidence reported by Ryan and
Pitman. They say that the change in marine fauna on the shelf regions of the Black
Sea from fresh-water mollusc to salt-water mollusc does not represent a sudden filling
of the Black Sea with marine water from the Mediterranean. Rather, it represents
the time when the density interface between the fresh surface water and the saline
deep water in the Black Sea gradually rose above shelf depth, allowing open-marine
fauna to live in these areas (Figure 2).

Figure 2. According to the international research team, the observed
change from freshwater mollusc to marine mollusc on the Black Sea shelf was not
due to a sudden filling with Mediterranean water. Rather, the level of the Black
Sea remained constant and the change was because the interface between the fresh
surface water and the salty deep water rose above shelf level.

Heads we win, tails you lose

What are we to make of these latest claims? First they illustrate how conclusions
can change dramatically when new geological evidence comes to light. That is why
we always put our trust in the reliable word of God. If any scientist claims to
have found evidence that contradicts a plain reading of the Bible, we know immediately
that we can reject such a claim.

As far as the Black Sea flood is concerned, if the new evidence holds up to scrutiny
then the Black Sea flood will evaporate entirely. However, even if the new claims
by the international team do not hold, we can still say with confidence that the
Black Sea flood has nothing to do with the global Flood described in the Bible.

How likely are the new claims to withstand critical scrutiny? First, the new conclusions
rely on radiocarbon analysis which yielded dates up to 12,000 years. Obviously,
those dates cannot be correct because the global Flood only occurred around 4,300
years ago. The discrepancy is mainly because the dates have not been corrected for
the increase in the atmospheric 14C/12C ratio following the
Flood. If this ratio increased smoothly and if carbon dioxide was well mixed in
the atmosphere, then the relative timing of events as determined by radiocarbon
dating method may well be correct. In this case, the new claims are likely to stand.
However, if the atmospheric carbon concentration has been locally disturbed, the
timing of events based on carbon dating may well be spurious. There are many factors
which can disturb the carbon ratio including local volcanic eruptions.19

So there are good lessons to be learned here. We should not blindly accept any claim
before it is properly assessed, including the evidence on which it is based. When
we examine Ryan and Pitman’s work we can say confidently that their claim
about Noah’s Flood is wrong. Initially their geological work looked reasonable
but now even their geological interpretations are under challenge. Either way, their
claim about Noah’s Flood is wrong because it does not agree with the details
recorded in the Bible.

The Noah’s Flood Hypothesis proposed by Ryan and Pitman generated much interest
in the media with headlines such as ‘Proof of Noah’s Flood at the Black Sea?’
Now that their hypothesis has been refuted, will we see headlines such as ‘Proof
that Noah’s Flood never happened’. Given the propensity of the media
and our culture to attack the authority of the Bible, it certainly would not be
surprising. But such headlines would be wrong.

Noah’s Flood Hypothesis may not hold water: Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute professor part of international research group refuting popular
theory, <www.rpi.edu/web/News/press_release/2002/noahsark.html>, 28 June 2002.
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